Cutting apparatus



Jal1 13, 1942- c. .1. FREDE-RIKSEN 2,269,527

CUTTING APPARATUS Filed June 27, 1940 INVENTOR: CARL J. FREDERIKSEN ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 13, 1942 UNITED STAFS, PATLNT @FFME CUTTING APPARATUS Carl J. Frederiksen, Moline, Ill., assignor to Deere & Company, Moline, Ill., a. corporation of Illinois Application June 2751940, Serial No. 342,679

12 Claims. (Cl. .S6-335) The principal object of my invention relates to the provision of a novel and improved knife clip for holding the reciprocating knife or sickle against the guard plate in proper shear contact therewith at all points along the blade edges, and Y is in lthe nature of an improvement over the knife clip disclosed in Patent No. 2,203,982 granted June ll, i940, to Wilbur J. Coultas and me, jointly. In this patent we disclosed a simple but efficient knife clip which maintained pressure upon the top of the sickle in two fore and aft positions of engagement therewith. The clip was made of a unitary plate member and independent ladjustment of the pressure of the fore and aft bearing surfaces thereof was easily made by pounding the knife engaging portions of the clip with ahammer. A more specic object of my invention has to do with the provision of a knife clip which is susceptible to more accurate adjustment of the bearing pressure against the sickle, and I have accomplished this object by constructing the knife 4clip of a unitary plate member which is folded upon itself with knife bearing surfaces along the two ends thereof and thus providing for a more independent and hence more accurate' adjustment of 'the pressure of said knife bearing portions against the knife or sickle.

Still a further object of my invention relates to the provision of a knife clip having adjustable control means for positively and accurately adjusting the pressure of atleast one of the sickle bearing portions against the sickle. In the accomplishment of this object I have provided a clamping bolt interconnecting the two portions of the folded plate member and by means of which` the upper portion can be drawn downwardly to increase its pressure against the sickle.

Another object of the present invention has to do with the provision of means for retaining the bolt in adjusted position and preventing it from loosening. Still another object relates to the provision of retaining means for the clamping bolt, which also serves to guide the harvested material over the upper end of the bolt and prevent such material from catching thereon.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following description in which reference is had to the drawing appended hereto, in which Figure l is a plan view of a portion of a cutter bar for a mower or the like, showing a knife clip embodying the principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation taken along a line 2 2 in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the knife clip alone.

Referring now to the drawing, reference numeral indicates a cutter b-ar having a plurality of forwardly extending guards 'I fixedly secured thereto at regularly spaced intervals by means of y rivets or bolts 8. The guards 'I are usually in the form of castings terminating at one end in a forwardly directed pointed portion 9, and at the other end in an attaching section Ill having holes I I provided therein to receive the bolts 8. A ledger plate i2 having cutting edges adapted to cooperate with the knives of a reciprocating sickle I4, is xedly secured to each of the guards 1 by rivets I3. The sickle I4 comprises knife sections I5 which are xed by rivets lIii to a knife back Il that rests in a recess I8 formed in each of the guards 1, and these knife sections extend rearwardly of the knife back Il to rest on wear plates I9. The wear plates I9 are bent downwardly over the front edge of the cutter bar 6, as at 20, to provide guide and wear surfaces for the knife back 5.

A knife clip or holder 22 is secured to the cutter bar E over the wear plate 20 by two of the bolts 8 which hold the guards I in place. While only one knife clip is shown in the drawings, it is understood by those skilled in the art that a plurality of knife clips is used on each cutter bar, the clips being spaced approximately two feet apart, or any other spacing that is desired. As best iilustrate'd in Figure 3, the knife clip 22 comprises a unitary plate member folded upon itself into a U-shape. comprising an upper fold or portion 23 and a lower portion 24, the latter resting at upon the wear plate I9 and having laterally spaced apertures 25 adapted to receive the bolts 8 for securing it to the cutter bar. The apertures 25 are countersunk to permit the bolts 8 to seat therein with their tops flush with the upper surface of the lower portion 24 of the clip, as best illustrated in Figure 2. The clip is folded forwardly. as indicated by reference numeral 26, to ferm the upper portion 23 which overlaps the lower portion 24 and also a portion of the sickle Ii, andV the forward end of the upper portion 23 is offset downwardly at 21 in order that the bottom surface 23 of the offset end portion 21 can bear upon the sickle I 4 at approximately the midportion of the latter.

Beneath the upper portion 23 the lower portion 24 terminates along a line 30 behind the rear edge of the sickle I4 (see Figure l), but the lower portion 24 extends laterally beyond the upper portion at opposite sides thereof, in which lateral extensions are disposed the bolt apertures 25. On each of the lateral extensions of the lower portion of the clip, is a forwardly projecting lip 3| which is offset upwardly in order to overhang the sickle f4, and the under surface 32 of each of the lips 3| forms a bearing surface which bears upon the rear portion of the sickle knives l5. Inasmuch as the upper portion 23 is substantially longer than the lip portions 3|, it bears upon the sickle at a position spaced appreciably forwardly of the position of bearing engagement of the lips 3|, and thus causes the sickle to be held down firmly against the ledger plates I2 and prevents tipping of the sickle forwardly or rearwardly.

It is now evident that the bearing pressure of the upper portion 23 or either of the lip portions 3| can be increased by striking them on top with a hammer, in case the pressure should become less because of wear or other reasons.

In order to provide a more accurate adjustment cf the bearing pressure of the upper portion 23 and also to brace the latter against being bent upwardly, I have provided an adjusting bolt 35 extending vertically through aligned apertures 35, 3l in the lower and upper portions of the clip, respectively. The aperture 36 in the lower portion is countersunk to permit the head of the bolt 355 to seat flush with the bottom of the lower portion 24 so that the head of the bolt 35 does not interfere with the rigid mounting of the clip on the cutter bar 6. The upper end of the bolt 35 projects above the upper surface of the upper portion 23 of the clip and is provided with an adjusting nut 38 which bears upon the top of the upper portion 23. Thus, by tightening the nut 3B the upper portion is drawn downwardly toward the lower portion 24 and increases the bearing pressure of the bearing surface 28 against the sickle I4, and it is obvious that this adjustment is independent of the pressure adjustment of the lips 3| against the rear edge of the sickle.

The nut 35 is retained in adjusted position by means of a spring clip 40 which is fixed to the top of the upper portion 23 by rivets 4| in front of the nut 38 and extends rearwardly therefrom, curving `upwardly and resting upon the nut 38. The retaining clip 40 is recessed downwardly at its rear end to provide a locking tongue 42 which engages radially disposed grooves 43 in the top surface of the nut 38 to restrain the latter from rotation relative to the retaining clip 40. The retaining clip 40, however, does not prevent the nut 38 from being tightened or loosened by means of a wrench. It is evident that inasmuch as the retaining clip 40 inclines upwardly from the top of the upper portion 23 substantially to the end of the bolt 35 it serves as a guide or ramp to raise the harvested material over the bolt 35 and prevent the material from catching on the latter during operation.

I claim:

l. A knife clip for a cutter bar comprising a unitary plate member folded upon itself to provide two sickle engaging surfaces on the ends of said plate.

2. A knife clip for a cutter bar comprising a unitary plate member folded upon itself and having means for mounting the same on a cutter bar with the two ends overhanging the sickle and in bearing engagement therewith.

3. A knife clip for a cutter bar comprising a unitary plate member folded upon itself and adapted to be mounted on a cutter bar with the two ends overhanging the sickle and in bearing engagement therewith the two ends of said clip being of unequal length to engage said sickle at fore and aft spaced positions thereon.

4. For use with a cutter bar and a sickle movable thereon a holding clip comprising a plate member folded upon itself and adapted to be mounted on the cutter bar with the two ends Yoverhanging the sickle the upper portion of said clip being longer than the lower portion and the two ends being disposed in fore and aft spaced relation and adapted to bear upon the sickle at fore and aft spaced points.

5. For use with a cutter bar and a sickle movable thereon, a holding clip comprising a plate inemberfolded upon itself and adapted to be `mounted on said cutter bar with the two ends e overhanging said sickle, the upper portion of said clip being turned downwardly and having a bearing portion adapted to engage the sickle, and the lower portionof said clip comprising a pair of sickle overlapping portions extending laterally on opposite sides of said upper portion.

6. A knife clip for a cutter bar comprising a unitary plate member folded upon itself and adapted to be mounted on a cutter bar with at least one end of the clip engaging the sickle, and means for adjusting said sickle engaging end vertically to regulate its bearing pressure against the sickle.

'7. A knife clip for a cutter bar comprising a unitary plate member folded upon itself and adapted to be mounted on a cutter bar with at least one end of the clip engaging the sickle, and meansengaging said one end of the clip and reacting against the other end th'ereof, for adjusting said clip ends vertically relative to each other.

`8. A knife clip for a cutter bar comprising a unitary plate member folded upon itself and adapted to be` mounted on a cutter bar with the two ends overhanging the sickle and in bearing engagement therewith, and adjustable control means for independently adjusting one. of said lends vertically relative to said sickle.

v9. A knife clip for a cutter bar comprising a "unitary plate member folded upon itself and adapted to be mounted on a cutter bar with the twoends overhanging the sickle and in bearing engagement'therewith, and a vertically disposed bolt interconnecting the two ends and adjustable to adjust said clip ends toward or away from each other.

10. For use with a cutter bar and a sickle movable thereon, a holding clip comprising a plate member folded upon itself and adapted to be mounted on said cutter bar with the two ends overhanging said sickle, the upper portion of said clip being longer4 than the lower portion and the two ends being adapted to engage the sickle in `fore and aft spacedA bearing engagement, and a clamping .bolt interconnecting the two clip por- -tions for drawing the upper portion downwardly bear upon the sickle and the lower portion adapted to be rigidly fixed to the cutter bar and having a pair of lateral extensions on opposite sides of said upper portion adapted to bear upon the sickle at a position spaced rearwardly of the position of engagement of said upper portion, and a clamping bolt interconnecting the two clip portions for drawing the upper portion downwardly against said sickle.

12. A knife clip for a cutter bar comprising a unitary plate member folded upon itself and adapted. to be mounted on a cutter bar with the 10 the harvested crop.

CARL J. FREDERIKSEN. 

